Pierre Monteux has recorded some of the most musically expressive performances of the Beethoven symphonies in the catalog, and this performance of the Second with the LSO is no exception.
Clear, clean and lean strings with light, clear and wonderful sounding winds, Monteux's recordings with the LSO are "must haves". And, with Kenneth Wilkinson's excellent engineering, these recordings from Walthamstow Assembly Hall are superb -- fully capturing the power, impact and detail of the LSO's performances.
The recording and the transfer are open, clean and transparent. This is an excellent transfer of a really nice sounding tape in the DXD version to which I'm listening.
Decca has released the series of these recordings on CD, and I've seen comment that the woodwinds are not well captured in this recording. Well, treat that as a deficiency of the CD release (if true). On this DXD transfer from HDTT, the woodwinds are as clear, delicate and translucent as one may wish to hear.
Another very well done release from HDTT!
24/352.8 DXD PCM Flac Digital Download
